Sunny in the am, getting cloudier as the morning progressed. Finally about noon the rain came, just a light sprinkle but it thwarted any walk for me.

I’ve been wondering about the Homeowner’s Association and if we are going to have a pool this summer. I have to admit even though I didn’t get to the pool last year at all I will be upset if my fees are not reimbursed if they do not open it up.

Out to lunch and it was raining and I had planned on hitting the trail after lunch. Boo, I had Burger King and was again reminded by my digestive system why I don’t eat BK. Not to mention I really dislike their fries. Not to mention that I bit my tongue so hard that my meal tasted like blood since it didn’t stop bleeding for some time.

Called up ACS, the heating and air guys and lined up a system check for my A/C units, the bottom floor I think is a bit buggy. It doesn’t seem to be cooling very well. They are scheduled for Monday May, 5th, Cinco de Mayo. Sheez, two weeks out.

Found that the issue I’ve been working on is bogus, after getting everything setup I find that the Android Client works fine on SP5/CPR maybe it’s something about iCloud but I don’t know.

Pollen is getting bad, feel it in my throat and sinuses.

Stopped in @ the Shroom for dinner and a couple of beers, Madison, Margaret and Michelle were working tonight. Watching Fox news and found out the Supreme Court uphead the MI law tat repeelied Affirmative action in the MI universities, lets hope other states do the same soon. Only the people how believe in Discrimination so long as you are a Majority are fighting this. I also learned that Lawyers working for the IRS got in excess of 1M in bonuses even though some still owe taxes to the IRS themselves, wonderful.

Home and some time with the daughter, also found out that my DirecTV doesn’t work upstairs any longer, I haven’t tried it in quite some time but geeez. The Guide and things work just no TV or playback of Stored Shows.

Feeling crappy this morning, nicki was at the house early and was wanting to get the car tow it and sell it to car max. I was pissed but decided to go ahead and get the car with her and then sell it to car max so I would be rid of it. She and I got into a discussion about why she isn’t very humble when someone does something for her. I guess it was what was expected when I was a kid and I equate that to being confrontational.

We got to the U-Haul place where we were going to pick up a tow thing to get the car but they had just rented it out. Emotions were HIGH and some crying was done. Instead we just went to the car and I decided we would try to move the car. I had planned on just driving down to the next shopping center there off of Satellite Blvd & SR120 but the temp stayed just below the red so long as I coasted most of the time and didn’t accelerate much. I decided then to go to the ‘Shroom and give the car a rest while we had lunch and tried to decide what to do next. Nicki had intended to take it to CarMax and see what they would give her for it.

While @ the ‘Shroom we realized that the belts were not moving and one outside one was no longer there. Nicki also mentioned that the belts were making noise (squealing) and that had stopped on Friday morning, yes that must have been when it fell off or broke. She googled and found someone else saying that this will make the car overheat. We then got extra conformation since the battery light was on as well. Decided to get to the Auto Zone and get a new belt and install it. After quite a greasy time it was installed and everything seemed to be fine, I’m still worried about the power-steering unit and since she isn’t putting any fluid in it the belt will more than likely crap out again really soon. Nicki slept most of the afternoon away after that.

I decided to head out to the Red Hare Brewery for their Saison Release Party. It was a lot of fun, good beers, nice people and some nice music by the 4 Monkeys, three guys and a gal singer.Ended up at the Fred Bar downstairs of the Prado Taco Mac, met a couple that were also at the Saison Party, Steve and Kate I think, really nice folks. They told me about the Tiny Toast that they were having for La Chouffe beers, got a mall gnome sized pint glass and we all toasted @ 6:66pm or 7:06pm. Had the RWS Fred Fries which were slightly undercooked IMHO but the dipping sauce was so good I wasn’t even worried about it.

Brasserie D’Achouffe celebrates 6,666th anniversary with Gnome Week. Huh? You’ve seen the Chouffe gnomes right? It goes that – 6,666 years ago, a village of gnomes were found in magical water in Belgium they were using to make beer. In 1982, the last surviving gnome pasted the secret recipe on to two aspiring Belgian brewers, giving birth to Brasserie D’ Achouffe.

all the taps @ the Fred

I then stupidly went over to Taco Mac by the mall to have some dinner and a couple of more beers there, namely the Innis & Gunn Independence Day Ale.

Got up early this morning even though I didn’t need to, I set up the camera for some star widefield shots of Orion but my vantage point with the camera put Orion behind a tree. From my room windows it was well centered between the trees. I went back to bed after that and got up about 8am instead. Went over to the Home Depot and picked up another tube of caulk to finish up the caulking before I could paint the interior of the bay window. Caulking was finished and I was doing a few cleaning chores inside when the BACP Termite inspection dude arrived. I felt a bit ashamed when I took him down into the basement due the the mess that Brian keeps there. We discussed the pile of wood in the back under the deck and I’ll need to get rid of alll the branches and things that are WAY to small for Brian to use for building things, I should be able to use it for firewood but I don’t know if it would even be practical to use it.

First shot with my IR modified D200

I had my old D200 Modified by removing the IR filter on the sensor, they replaced it with a visible light filter so the photo you see here is mostly if not all inside the InfraRed spectrum.

I then began painting the inner panel of the window, all by hand with a 3 inch brush, not all that bright. By the end of it my hand and arm were really feeling it and the coverage wasn’t all that good. The paint can was a bit rusty and some was falling into the paint as I used it. Later I moved the paint to a tupperware bowl and will need to get another can possibly later. The three seam areas at the top of the window, the one in the center and the others on either side look quite noticeable at close inspection but at the road are not all that bad. With a little work I could make them better I think. Or else, I may just do some creative decorating and cover them up with something.

I had just completed the painting and cleanup about 3:30 when the UPS truck pulled up and I got my newly modified IR D200, snapped a few shots like the one up here and later realized that they had left the camera on JPG and not RAW, I think for the PRE-set White balance they set. Need to look up the stuff on the web, I’ll do that tomorrow.

First shot with my IR modified D200

Decided to head over to Hooters for some beer and an order of Buffalo Shrimp, got to hang with AshleyS and then Trish & Shawntea. Shawntea has a new large side tattoo of a flower of some sort, daisy? Not sure I didn’t really get a good look at it. Ashley’s son’s name is Titan, very odd but considering who the father is I’m not very surprised, he’s a nice guy but… I really don’t understand how some folks name their kids, the kid has to deal with it, it’s not as bad as Tweezel or Moon-unit I guess. 🙂 It was the last Bike Night, got to see Rick the photographer, Ted, Anna, LaurenD, Brad the DJ, and meet a few more “new” people. The place was DEAD when I showed up about 6:30pm, got a bit better but truly not much. I feel for LaurenD, she knows how GREAT the place was when it was under “good” management.